Austin Jackson and Chris Denorfia are here and in the starting lineup.

“Obviously you can see it gives us a lot more balance against a left-hander,” manager Lloyd McClendon said. “It gives us more options and it gives us more options off the bench.”

To make room on the 25-man roster, James Jones and Stefen Romero were optioned to Class AAA Tacoma, as expected.

McClendon said both rookies need to play every day and they will be back on Sept. 1 when rosters expand.

“They’re very talented and it does them no good to sit on the bench,” McClendon said. “They need to play and continued to develop. They’re a big part of our future. They’re going to go down and play and they’ll be back in September.”

McClendon didn’t mention specifics about what they need to work on, just saying they need to “work on their craft.”

“They know where they are and what they need to work on,” McClendon said. “I think they’ll be better players when they come back.”

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James Paxton has officially been slotted into the rotation. He will pitch Saturday.

“If he comes back and pitches the way he pitches coming out of the gate, it will be a tremendous lift for this ball club,” McClendon said. “Obviously, he’s been missed.”

The Mariners will have to make a 25-and 40-man roster move when he’s activated from the 60-day disabled list. As far as the 25-man roster goes, the Mariners are carrying eight relievers on their staff. Teams don’t usually carry that many. McClendon doesn’t think he will be able to carry 13 total pitchers.

“We’ve got inter-league play coming,” he said. “As we speak right now today, that would probably be a tough thing to do. Tomorrow that could change.”

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Michael Saunders had hoped to go out on a rehab assignment today or tomorrow, but that won’t happen.

“He’s not ready to go out, not quite yet,” McClendon said. “I think we’ll re-evaluate him when we get home and see where we are.”

Saunders isn’t swinging 100 percent or throwing.

“He has to be able to swing 100 percent and throw to the plate with some action,” McClendon said. “That’s usually the last thing to come.”